Bizarre Foods: Simon Says

Our very own Simon Majumdar, soon to be a judge on the Food Network's The Next Iron Chef, has decided to change the format of his column to better help men make wise food choices. He's received an overwhelming number of e-mails from AM readers wanting to know more, and he has taken it upon himself to answer as many as possible in this new column, Simon Says. If you have any questions for Simon, feel free to send them our way at editorial@askmen.com.

Simon,

I know that you have eaten around the world and must have eaten some crazy stuff. But if you were pushed to say what was the most bizarre and unpleasant food to ever cross your lips, what would it be?

Thanks, Max

Hi Max,

It's a great question. Although I do not set out to eat the weirdest food I can find, inevitably, I do come across some pretty challenging stuff when I am on my travels. In Mongolia, I sampled fermented horse's milk, which reaches 5% alcohol and is particularly nasty. In Japan, I encountered cod sperm sushi, which was as unpleasant as it sounds and still gives me a shudder when I think about it.

However, the one that always comes rapidly to mind when I am asked this question is hakarl, the rotten shark meat of Iceland. It is taken from a basking shark, native to the waters around the island, and left to rot, allowing the poisonous uric acid under the shark's skin to be removed by nature. It has a particularly rank smell, which unfortunately for anyone who encounters it, is better than it tastes. Not one for even the most adventurous of gastronauts. I did it so you don't have to.

Hi Mr. M,

I know that most of the great chefs say that their way to test any would-be apprentices is to have them do one of two things, which appear simple but are actually very hard to get just right. One is to make an omelet and the other is to cook the perfect steak. Now, I can crack an egg with the best of them, but my steaks always end up as gray, overcooked pieces of shoe leather. Can you help?

Yours, James

Hi James,

It took me years to perfect my steak cooking techniques and I am not too proud to say that I still have moments where I take my eye off the ball and reduce a prime cut to something that looks like evidence from CSI: Miami. However, if you follow these simple rules, you will have a pretty good chance of producing a meal that would make your local steakhouse proud.